A primary goal of the NJ Comprehensive Tobacco Control program is to decrease the initiation of tobacco use by youth. Two data systems, the Youth Tobacco Survey (YTS) and the School Tobacco Survey (STS), have been critical to the design, implementation and evaluation of this goal. The first New Jersey YTS conducted in 165 schools during Fall 1999, reached over 16,000 middle and high school students. The NJYTS was instrumental in setting baseline measures for youth tobacco use, knowledge and attitudes as well as providing valuable needs assessment information for program development. The STS was administered to principals and health educators at 400 schools throughout the State in the Spring 2000. The STS provided needed data on tobacco policies as well as tobacco curriculum at schools throughout NJ. Analysis of the STS revealed that only one out of three schools met CDC's recommendation for comprehensive tobacco control policies that prohibited the use of multiple tobacco products by students and faculty both indoors, on school grounds, in school vehicles or at school sponsored events. The purpose of this secondary analysis is to examine whether comprehensive school tobacco policies are associated with lower youth tobacco use. Middle and High Schools selected in both the YTS and STS sample were identified; one in four YTS schools (49) also completed the STS. The two datasets for these 49 schools were linked resulting in a dataset which contains both student and school level data. This presentation will highlight key findings from this secondary analysis.
Learning Objectives: (1) Understand methods for evaluating tobacco use among youth and tobacco control policies in schools and (2) Identify key findings from the secondary analysis of the NJ's Youth Tobacco and School Tobacco Surveys.
Keywords: Tobacco Control, Evaluation
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